Since (mostly) leaving Facebook, and cutting down on Twitter, I’ve come to realize the extent of how outdated traditional computing definitions have become. To help those who need to get up to speed, I’ve compiled a few technobabble words and translated them into normal English. app: in many cases, an extremely limited web […]
Tag: cellphones
In line with what I discovered in 2011: Google tracks your location even after opting out
The Associated Press had an exclusive this week: Google does not obey your opt-out preferences. I could have told you that in 2011. Oh wait, I did. And I pointed out other instances where Google ignored your request to pause your history, continuing to track you either through its main site or its properties […]
The EU lands Google with another fine—but will Google change?
Zain Ali The EU gets it when it comes to fines. Rather than the paltry US$17 million certain US states’ attorneys-general stung Google with some years ago for hacking Iphones, they’ve now fined the search engine giant €4,340 million, on top of its earlier fine of €2,420 million over anticompetitive behaviour. That US$17 […]
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It’s not a rumour: longer Instagram videos are already here
Going back from the Hutt into #Wellington. Nothing too remarkable, with maybe the exception of the EA26 #Ford Fairmont wagon (driven by a safe driver). And it’s sunny for a change. If anything, it’s a test to see if I can upload a video longer than 7'53" (the longest I’ve managed to date). #Renault #car […]
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Why you shouldn’t sign up for Facebook’s two-factor authentication
I know, you’re stick of reading my reporting on my experiences with Facebook et al, let alone what someone else is going through. But here’s a word of warning from Gabriel Lewis, who signed up to Facebook’s two-factor authentication. Note: he never opted in to SMS notifications, and he doesn’t have the Facebook app. He’s […]
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Musings on making friends with mobiles
I see Google has messaged me in Webmaster Tools about some sites of ours that aren’t mobile-friendly. No surprises there, since some of our sites were hard-coded in HTML a long time ago, before people thought about using cellphones for internet access. The theory is that those that don’t comply will be downgraded […]
A fresher Lucire (the web edition) for 2013
When Lilith-Fynn Herrmann, Tania Naidu, Julia Chu, Tanya Sooksombatisatian and I redesigned Lucire in 2012, we went for a very clean look, taking a leaf from Miguel Kirjon’s work at Twinpalms Lucire in Thailand. I’m really proud of the results, and it makes you happy to work on the magazine—and just pick up the finished […]
The modern phone shifts how I consume technology—but only slightly
This has been my year for acquiring new technology, beginning with a new external hard drive just after Christmas 2011, to a new desktop machine right after New Year. The keyboard, printer, scanner have all given way to replacements; while even the internet package and modem are new. TelstraClear then gave me a new […]
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Cellphone emails are gibberish
Speaking of technological issues, for the last two months, people using those newfangled cellphones to write emails to me have been sending me gibberish. I haven’t changed my set-up, principally because Qualcomm hasn’t made a new version of Eudora for a while. So what has changed about cellphones (I don’t know what brand—they are […]
Retrograde steps for our cellphones
Last week, our company’s Nokia 2730 Classics arrived as part of a contract with Telstra Clear, of whom we’ve been a customer since the 1980s. They are a reminder of how technology is regressing. Remember that scene in Life on Mars, where Sam Tyler, or Samuel Santos in La chica de ayer, tells Annie […]